How Starbucks can Learn from Woolworth’s Mistake

In February 1960, four black students sat down at the lunch counter at Woolworth’s Department Store in North Carolina, and ordered coffee. They were denied service. And they stayed. The next day they returned, bringing over 300 students with them, leading the first of countless sit-in demonstrations across the South and ultimately leading to the de-segregation of Woolworth five months later.

A song entitled “I Don’t Want No Jim Crow Coffee” by Bill McAdoo and Pete Seeger, was recorded in 1960 after the sit-in demonstrations at Woolworth. Listen to it here.

Woolworth’s is distinctly different than a Starbucks. A five-and-dime store at heart, it only introduced the lunch counter to keep people shopping longer (which is credited as inspiration for modern day food courts in malls). But the rapid development of Woolworth’s and Starbucks is worth a closer analysis. After finding success in more affluent markets, the Woolworth family intentionally bought real estate secretly in “rougher” neighborhoods at lower prices before announcing plans to develop a new store, ensuring they had the best financial gains. Similarly, Starbucks has shifted its focus towards gentrifying neighborhoods in hopes of creating early relationships with its new residents, a process so dependable that buying property near a new Starbucks almost guarantees a significant ROI.

And like Starbucks, Woolworth’s was one of the only five-and-dime stores entirely corporate owned, incorporated under a single entity. By 1979, Woolworth was the largest department store in the world. That’s a title Starbucks can relate to; by 2015 it owned 22,557 stores worldwide, nearly five times its closest competitor, McCafe.

When Woolworth’s de-segregated their lunch counters, they chose to announce it in a way that would best be favored in the press. They chose three workers within the counter, one of whom being Geneva Tisdale, who was present on the day of the sit-in. In an interview with StoryCorps, she describes how they told her to come into work with another outfit, and change, sit on the other side of the counter, and order lunch to align with the newspapers’ arrival to capture this historical day. I won’t add more here; listen to the story to understand how she felt in those moments.

History has been made by ordinary people standing in the face of injustice. And those injustices are often housed in major institutions that don’t just represent the majority, but fuel the same oppressive spaces and systems. Woolworth’s had the power and privilege at the time to lead a conversation on what happened in their store that day, and now, nearly 60 years later, Starbucks is in the same position. They have an incredible opportunity to shine a light on how corporations foster and uphold injustices in this nation, and use their privilege to educate all of us on white supremacy and racism. I hope they consciously move forward with the intention of change, not saving face.